View full sizeDerrick Mason has been executed for the 1994 murder of a Huntsville convenience store clerk. (Alabama Department of Corrections)

ATMORE, Alabama - Derrick Mason apologized to Angela Cagle's mother while strapped to a prison gurney before he was executed Thursday night for the 1994 slaying of Cagle at a Huntsville convenience store.

"I would like to apologize to Mrs. Cagle's mother for the pain I caused her," Mason, 37, said minutes before a lethal dose of drugs began flowing into his veins.

Mason was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die for shooting Cagle twice in the face as she lay naked on a back-room table at a Sparkman Drive convenience store on March 27, 1994.

Cagle's mother, Anne Larrivee, was among four members of Cagle's family who witnessed Mason's execution in Holman Correctional Institute here.

Larrivee and the family said in a written statement issued after the execution that Mason accepted the consequences of his actions after showing Cagle no mercy.

"We extend our sympathy to his family and pray his death will make others think twice before committing such a heinous crime," the statement said. "We praise God for giving justice to Angie, and a measure of closure. We will miss Angie until we see her in heaven. We are grateful for the prayers and support we have received for 17 1/2 years in dealing with having her ripped from our lives but never from our hearts."

Mason also thanked Cagle's father, Steve Worsham, for "reaching out to me" several years ago. Mason apologized to Worsham and said that he had given his life to God. Worsham replied in a letter that as a Christian he forgave Mason, but he still had to face the consequences of his actions.

View full sizeMike Harper and Brandon Fountain were part of a small group of people with signs condemning capital punishment who stood in protest midday on the street corners surrounding the Jefferson County Criminal Justice Center because of the scheduled execution by lethal injection of Derrick O'Neal Mason on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011, in Birmingham, Ala. Mason was convicted in June 1995 for the shooting death of Angela Cagle, 25, of Hazel Green, during a robbery at a convenience store in Huntsville. (The Birmingham News/Bernard Troncale)

"The execution was extremely difficult for us to watch," Cagle's family said in a second statement written after the execution. "Mr. Mason made an apology, the first time we have heard from him, not knowing of the communication with my ex-spouse until today. We firmly hope that he had accepted Christ and will not have to suffer for his deed any further. We certainly wish he had made a different decision on 3/27/94, then neither of our families would have had to have been here tonight."

Four Mason family members and a family friend leaned on each other as they witnessed the procedure. Mason told them in his last statement to remember the Bible verse Joshua 1:9.

The verse reads: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

A woman, who was apparently Mason's mother, Maggie Mason, said, "Take him, Jesus" several times while the drugs took affect. She referred to Mason as her son when she said, "He's resting for the first time."

Mason's chest heaved once after the lethal drugs began flowing, and he raised his head slightly to look at the IVs in his left arm, which was strapped to a support, before closing his eyes for the last time at 6:27 p.m. Mason was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m.

Mason fasted all day Thursday and did not request a last meal, said Grantt Culliver, deputy commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Mason, who arrived on death row in 1995, spent almost the entire day with 10 visitors, Culliver said.

Mason was the second person sentenced in Madison County that the state executed this year, but only the fifth since the state took over executions from the counties in 1927. Leroy White was executed in January for the 1988 shotgun slaying of his estranged wife, Ruby Lanier White.

Eight other men sentenced in Madison County are on death row. They are Nick Acklin, Benito Albarran, James Barber, Anthony Tyson, Jeffery Rieber, Mohammad Sharifi, Jason Sharp and Joey Wilson.